Panmunjom: Joint Security Area (JSA), Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)

A guided tour is required to visit Panmunjom, the Joint Security Area patrolled by both North and South Korea. For obvious security reasons, tourists cannot just go here as they please, and when we got there, I really felt the tension mainly because of so many things that were prohibited. I'll get to that later.

We booked our JSA tour via VIP Travel for KRW 77,000/pax. We were supposed to go on a Wednesday, but because there were scheduled military exercises, we had to move our tour to Thursday. However, this did not become a concern because the tour is for an entire day, and even if we had to adjust our itinerary, we knew the change even a month before our trip. We had to book early because reservations must be at least 48 hours before the tour. Also, scanned copies of our passport, as well as hotel information were required to make the reservations. Following was our tour's itinerary.

(9:30) Depart Lotte Hotel → Korean War Monument → Unification Park → Imjingak Park → Lunch → Camp Bonifas → JSA → Arrive at Lotte Hotel (17:00)

We arrived at Lotte Hotel at 9:00 to confirm the booking and pay for the tour. We were early because we thought the bus would leave at exactly 9:30, but to our surprise, they didn't strictly follow the schedule, and we left at 9:50. If I remember correctly, there were 46 people in the tour, 20 Caucasians, 24 Japanese and me and my wife. We were divided into two groups in the bus, the English speaking group and the Japanese, each group with their own tour guide. Our tour guide, the English-speaking one, was a little dull and boring, while the Japanese-speaking guide was very lively. Good thing I know some Nihongo, so I was able to understand some of the historical information (with some jokes here and there) that our tour guide wasn't able to explain fully. First stop was the Korean War Monument, and we were acknowledged by our tour guide because that monument was for the Philippine Armed Forces.

After 10 minutes, we rode the bus again to our next stop - the Unification Park. Unlike the Korean War Monument where there was only one monument, this park had a few more of them. Note-worthy for me was the monument of the 10 human bombs. There's also a monument for writers who died during the Korean war as correspondents.

Next stop was Imjingak Park. We could feel the relevance of each stop as we get closer to the JSA. In Imjingak Park lies an old steam locomotive of the Gyeongui Line. You can also see the Freedom Bridge from here, which was used by returning soldiers captured by the North.

Last stop before the military stuff was our lunch that was included in the package. We stopped in a restaurant beside the main highway, and the food was Bulgogi. The first rule came here - no alcoholic beverages, or else, you'll be left in the restaurant and will just be picked up on the way back to Lotte hotel.

After the quick but tasty bite, we were off to Camp Bonifas. We had our passports checked by a SoKor soldier as we entered the camp, and that soldier was with us for the whole time that we were inside the DMZ. According to our guide, he also checked our clothes and shoes, but he was wearing sunglasses, so I wouldn't know. Military-styled clothing, tattered jeans, sleeveless tops and shoes showing the heels were not allowed. At Camp Bonifas, there was a short presentation that provided some more information about the Korean war with some current events as well. We were also told to sign a waiver just in case something would happen. Other tourists from other tours also joined us here, but we were still divided into the English-speaking and Japanese-speaking groups. We were reminded of some more rules: no pictures unless allowed by the tour guides/soldiers, no waving, no placing of hands inside pockets and no pointing of fingers. Basically, you have to show that you're there just as a tourist and not some spy that would try to communicate with the other side or concealing some weapon inside your pants.

When we arrived at the JSA, we had a group picture in front of the Freedom House. After that, we passed through the Freedom House to the Conference Room, the actual place where you can cross the border and technically be at North Korea. We had another group picture inside the Conference Room, and we were given about 2 minutes to take some pictures. One more reminder here: Do not touch anything owned by the North.

After the Conference Room, we were made to stand at the rear side of Freedom House, facing North Korea. We were given another two minutes or so to take pictures, but were reminded to take only pictures of what was in front of us. Some who turned and took pictures of the surrounding places were immediately warned. We also saw a North Korean soldier looking at us through his binoculars.

Things happened very fast, and we were back to our bus in no time. Still, no word from the guides, no pictures. Our bus took one final turn between the Freedom House and the Conference Room, and as we were passing in front of North Korea, we got 10 seconds to take some more pictures. After that, the bus passed by the Tree Marker (the location of the cut tree that caused the Axe Murder Incident) and we got another 10 seconds to take its picture. Last stop was the Bridge of No Return which was used to exchange prisoners during the Korean War.

Tree Marker

Bridge of No Return

On our way back to Lotte Hotel, we were presented with a ring-bound book that contained pictures and information about the DMZ places, and our two group pictures, plus one of the group picture edited so that it appeared that our picture was taken with North Korea as our background. We got this as a souvenir for KRW 25,000.

As I mentioned, we booked via VIP Travel and their website can be accessed here.